Microstrip patch antennas are composed of a resonant arrangement having a patch and a ground plane printed on or otherwise bonded to opposite faces of a dielectric substrate having a dielectric constant .epsilon..sub.r1. The patch and the ground plane with the dielectric substrate resonate at a wavelength .lambda..sub.o in free space and a wavelength .lambda. in the dielectric substrate. Exclusive of fringe effects, .lambda.=.lambda..sub.o /.sqroot..lambda..sub.r1 . The patch generally has a length .lambda./2=.lambda..sub.o /2.sqroot..lambda..sub.r1 and the ground plane is as large as available space allows. The antenna generally propagates electromagnetic energy transverse to the plane of the patch. This results on substantial spurious radiation and requires substantial space.
An object of the invention is to improve such antennas.